andy-887 A very clever and insightful thriller, this decade's All The President's Men, though without Robert Redford. Brings new angles on the government conspiracy theme. No doubt will be remade as a big Hollywood Studio thriller but unlikely to improve on this thought provoking original. The writer was himself a former top government Spin Doctor. Since the film was released real life events have made the curious leap of imitating fiction in the USA and UK with high profile political scandals, suicides and leaked information. Part of a string of strong political thrillers in recent years including Syriana with George Clooney. Maybe he will be in the remake.

claes-bertilson As with most Danish films of the last ten years the visual images are brilliant, the intrigue is impressive and the actors are very good.But best of all is that the imagery of Kongkabale fits in well with the shady nature of politics suggested by the filmmakers. As a political thriller its right up there with The Contender, City Hall or All the Presidents Men (although you can't really argue against the shadiness in the final one). But Kongakabale reaches the real heights because it doesn't overplay corruption or evil and shows that no matter which side you might play for you will face ethical dilemmas.The one criticism that one might have about this film is that one or two of the characters are perhaps overtly cynical but then even these few exceptions are definitely needed to take the story home.

revolutioner I really enjoyed this gem when I caught it at a festival. The film is very well crafted. Tight direction, brilliant lighting, and shot after shot was just sparkling and a pleasure to watch. The story holds your interest throughout and although you're not forced to hold your breath in suspense, you ARE looking forward to where it is going. The performances are all believable but an actor named Anders W. Berthelsen carries this film on his back! If this guy can speak English, he's the next great American character actor. Meanwhile, I'll settle for subtitles.8/10

Jesper Engsted Kongekabale has received rave reviews in all of the Danish newspapers and apparently, this is the prime achievement of the Danish film industry in the last couple of years. However, in my opinion, the film has several flaws, which makes it mediocre at best.The biggest flaw is, like it said in another review on this page, that we don't really care about the characters. This is because of the fact, that the characters are not fully explored, but are rather used as plot devices. Furthermore, they are all stereotypes. The two journalist are virtually copies of Woodward and Bernstein ("All the President's men"), with one of them being a naive idealistic rookie journalist, and the other an experienced journalist who is fully aware of how rotten the system is. The spin doctor is also a stereotype with his slick appearance and behavior.The worst character, however, is "the bad guy" played by Søren Pilmark. I have never seen a character who is so purely evil as he is. Not once in the film do we see any sign of a redeeming feature. He wants to become the prime minister at any price. We never believe in him as a realistic character, because he is so one-sided.The script writer, the director and the actors have stated that this is a realistic view into the world of Danish politics. I find it difficult to believe that the Danish parliament is a place of greed and corruption of such gigantic Machiavellian proportions as this film claims. Even Oliver Stone who is considered by many to be a paranoid conspiracy theorist has a lot more nuances in his films, which makes the characters more believable. Unfortunately, this "golden age" of Danish cinema is characterized by black and white characters and stereotypes rather than originality and realism.